Where to Stay in Crete for a Villa Holiday

The best area to stay in Crete depends on what you want from the week. West Crete, around Chania, suits most first visits: an old harbour town, the famous western beaches and the widest choice of villas. Rethymno sits in the middle for touring, Heraklion and the south suit history and calmer summer seas, and the east around Elounda is the quiet end.

Crete is the largest island in Greece, about 260 km from west to east and never more than about 60 km wide. That shape decides everything: the national road runs along the north coast, and Chania to Heraklion is 138 km, around two hours of driving. You can see a lot of the island from one base, but not all of it comfortably, so the useful question is which part you want to spend most of your days in.

The four areas of Crete compared

Area	Best for	Nearest airport	Feel	Cretico villas there
West Crete (Chania)	First visits, families, beach days, big groups	Chania	Green hillsides, villages, a lively old town	103
Rethymno	Touring both ends, long sandy beaches	Chania or Heraklion	Central, a Venetian town, mountain villages behind	50
Heraklion and the south	History, calmer seas in midsummer, village life	Heraklion	Minoan sites, olive and vine country, the Libyan Sea	32
East Crete (Lasithi)	Couples, slow weeks, quiet bays	Heraklion	Smaller, calmer, fishing villages	25

Figures are Cretico's villas on sale today: 210 in all, and 206 of them have a private pool.

West Crete, from Chania and Akrotiri to the far west

If you are unsure where to stay in Crete, start here. The Chania region holds more of Cretico's villas than any other, 103 of 210, and it is the part of the island that gives a first week the most variety: a harbour town for evenings, beaches on both coasts, and the White Mountains behind for walking.

Chania town and Akrotiri. The old town and the Venetian harbour are the reason many people choose the west, and a villa on the Akrotiri peninsula puts you close to them without the noise. Chania airport is on Akrotiri itself, which makes arrival day short. The shallow water at Kalathas, about 10 km from town, is a favourite with families from Chania.

Apokoronas. East of Chania the land turns into olive groves and hill villages above the sea: Vamos, Gavalochori, Kokkino Chorio, and Plaka above Almyrida, 23 km from Chania town, where people drive up for the sunset over Souda Bay and stay for dinner on the square. Cretico's villas are more closely grouped here than anywhere else on the island, and it suits anyone who wants a village evening and a beach morning in the same day.

The Platanias coast. West of town, Platanias and Agia Marina have merged into one resort along a long, organised beach, 11 km and about 9 km from Chania. It is the busiest stretch of the west, with the liveliest nights, and families like it for the same reason: everything is close.

Kissamos and the far west. Kissamos is the base for the most photographed beaches in the west. Boats leave from there for Balos, 17 km to the northwest, Falassarna is about 59 km from Chania, and Elafonisi, with its shallow lagoon, is about 75 km southwest of Chania.

A week from a villa here might be two days on the beach near the villa, an evening in the old town, a day at Balos or Falassarna, a day walking one of the gorges of the White Mountains, and a long lunch in a village taverna.

The honest downside: the east of the island is a long way off. Heraklion is two hours by the national road, Agios Nikolaos about three, so Knossos is a full day and Spinalonga is really a different holiday. Balos also fills up with day boats in July and August; go early.

See all villas in Chania.

Rethymno, its town, Bali, Panormos and the villages

Rethymno is the centre of the north coast, and that is its strength. Chania is 60 km west, roughly an hour away, and Heraklion is about 80 km east, so a villa here lets you reach both towns and both airports without committing to one end. Cretico has 50 villas in the Rethymno region.

Rethymno town and the coast east of it. The town has its own Venetian harbour and old quarter, and sandy beaches line the coast to the east. Sfakaki, 10 km east, sits on that beach, about 10 minutes from town by car and close to the national road.

Bali and Panormos. Bali is a former fishing village about 33 km east of Rethymno and 50 km west of Heraklion, built around a bay of small sandy coves sheltered from the wind, with Panormos just along the coast. It is one of the easiest places in Crete for a family week by the sea.

The villages. Inland, the land climbs quickly toward Psiloritis, at 2,456 m the highest mountain on the island, through olive groves and small villages. The Arkadi Monastery, 23 km southeast of Rethymno and the symbol of the Cretan revolt of 1866, is an easy morning from the coast.

A week from a villa here could be a morning in Rethymno's old town, a beach day at Bali, a drive west to Chania for the harbour at night, a drive east to Knossos, and a day up in the mountain villages.

The honest downside: being in the middle means the famous far west beaches and the far east are both long days out, and the north coast here catches the summer wind like the rest of it.

See all villas in Rethymno.

Heraklion and the south around Matala and Pitsidia

Heraklion is the capital of Crete and its largest city, and its airport is the island's main one. Knossos, the great Minoan palace, is about 5 km south of the city centre. Cretico has 32 villas in the Heraklion region, and most of them are in the south, around the Mesara plain.

Kamilari, Pitsidia and Matala. This is a different Crete from the north coast: farming villages, a wide plain of olives, and the Libyan Sea. Kamilari is about 4 km from the palace of Phaistos, Pitsidia about 2 km away, and the long beach of Komos is a few kilometres below. Matala, with the caves carved into its cliff that were tombs in Roman times and home to a hippie community in the 1960s, is a short drive. Heraklion airport to Matala is a little over an hour by car.

A week from a villa here means mornings on Komos or at Matala, an afternoon at Phaistos, a day at Knossos and the archaeological museum in Heraklion, and evenings in the village tavernas of Kamilari and Pitsidia.

The honest downside: it is a long way from Chania and the western beaches, and the south coast has its own wind: gusts that come down off the mountains, sudden and strong, even on days that start still.

See all villas in Heraklion.

East Crete around Elounda, Agios Nikolaos and Sitia

Lasithi, the eastern end of the island, is the smallest and calmest of the four areas, and it suits couples and slow weeks. Cretico has 25 villas here.

Agios Nikolaos and Elounda. Agios Nikolaos is about 65 km, around an hour, from Heraklion, on the Gulf of Mirabello, and Elounda is 11 km further north. Boats to Spinalonga, the Venetian island fortress that was later a leper colony, cross from Plaka in about 10 minutes and from Elounda in about 20.

Sitia and Mochlos. Further east, Mochlos is a tiny fishing village about 35 km east of Agios Nikolaos and 20 km west of Sitia, with a few tavernas on the water and an islet opposite that holds the remains of a Minoan settlement. Vai, the beach backed by a palm forest, is 23 km from Sitia.

A week from a villa here is slower: a boat to Spinalonga, a swim at Vai, a Minoan site in the morning and fish by the harbour at Mochlos in the evening, and a lot of time by the pool.

The honest downside: Chania is 204 km away, about three hours, so the west is out of reach. Sitia's airport handles mainly domestic flights, so most guests fly into Heraklion, and Heraklion to Sitia is about two and a half hours. There are also fewer villas to choose from than in the west.

See all villas in Lasithi.

Where to stay in Crete with kids

For most families the answer is West Crete. It has the most villas that fit a big family, 14 of the 23 Cretico villas that sleep 12 or more are in the Chania region, and it has the beaches children like best: the shallow water at Kalathas, the long organised beach at Platanias, with sheltered coves near Agia Marina for windy days, and the lagoon at Elafonisi, knee deep for several metres out. Bali, in Rethymno, is the other strong choice, a bay of small coves protected from the wind, with the national road close for day trips.

Two practical points. Keep the first and last days short by staying near the airport you fly into. And if you travel at Easter, in May or in October, when the sea and an unheated pool are cooler, look at heated pools: 38 Cretico villas have one, 23 of them in Chania.

Where to stay in Crete for couples

Couples tend to want the evening more than the beach. The villages of Apokoronas give you both: a quiet villa among the olives, a sunset from Plaka, and Chania's harbour a short drive away for a dinner out. East Crete is the other answer, especially Elounda for the views over the gulf and Mochlos for the feeling of being at the end of the road. If history is the draw, a villa near Kamilari puts Phaistos, Matala and the village tavernas within a few minutes of each other.

North coast or south coast

The towns, both international airports and the national road are all on the north coast, and so are most of the villa areas in this guide. In summer the north coast gets the meltemi, a north to northwest wind that is strongest in July and August and can blow for days, raising rough seas on the exposed beaches. That is when the sheltered coves matter: Bali, the harbour side of Agia Marina, the bays around Elounda.

The south coast faces the Libyan Sea and sits behind the mountains, so on a meltemi day it is usually calmer and hotter. It has its own catch: gusts that drop off the mountains toward the sea without much warning. Many people staying on the north coast simply drive south on a windy day; from the south, you have the calmer sea on your doorstep.

Why a villa base works in Crete

Because the island is big, the best plan is one base and day trips, not three hotels in a week. A villa gives you room to do that: space for everyone, a private pool for the hot middle of the day, a kitchen for breakfasts and for the cheese, honey and wine you bring back from the villages, and no packing between stops. Choose the region you will spend most days in, and treat the rest of the island as a day out.

Finding your villa

For a first visit, most people are happiest in the west, among the villas in Chania; for touring both ends, look at the villas in Rethymno; for Knossos, Phaistos and the south coast, the villas in Heraklion; and for a slow week in the east, the villas in Lasithi. You can also browse all our villas in Crete, or only the ones with an offer running now.